How to Produce a Good Tragedy “To be new without being odd, often sublime and always natural, to know the human heart and to make it speak; to be a great poet without allowing any person in the piece to appear to be a poet; to know language perfectly–to speak it with purity, with continuous harmony and without rhythm ever taking anything from sense.”
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“On the Nature of Things” by Lucretius
Cicero, because of his personal aversion to the Epicurean philosophy, didn’t quite do it justice in his book The Nature of the Gods, which introduced the Greek philosophical schools to the Romans. He all but made the Epicurean the laughing-stock of all the other philosophers. However, he also prepared and edited the transcript of this book by Lucretius, arguably the best exposition of Epicureanism, as a counterpoint. Lucretius made a […]
Read more“The Last Day of a Condemned Man” by Victor Hugo
This book is not an enjoyable read, not in the usual sense of the word. In fact, it caused me mental and physical discomfort, if not downright pain. The only other book that had a similar effect is Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”. These two books capture the last agonies of two men condemned to death, one by a terminal disease, the other by the death penalty, a social disease. […]
Read more“The Toilers of the Sea” by Victor Hugo
Dear reader, how would you react if someone you respect were to show you that one of your friends, whom you’ve liked and trusted for many years, is in fact a coward, hypocrite, backstabber, rapist and murderer? Troubled, offended, confused, shocked, sad? That was my reaction when I read this book. That someone is Victor Hugo, and that friend of mine is the Ocean. Introduction Growing up on the coast, […]
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“Letters to Atticus IV” by Cicero
A collection of letters written by Cicero to his close friend Atticus during his declining years, i.e., the period between the death of his daughter and his own murder, which is also a period of crisis in Roman history, from the fall of the Republic to the rise of dictatorship and the Roman Empire. The letters provide rare insights into Cicero as a person, friend, prolific writer and astute statesman. The […]
Read more“The Nature of the Gods” by Cicero
“That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun.” More than two thousand years ago, Cicero summarized the theologies of ancient Greek philosophers, in the form of a brilliant, pungent and witty debate among the representatives of the Stoic, Epicurean and Academic schools. The discourse is centered around four questions: Do gods exist? What […]
Read more“Ninety-Three” by Victor Hugo
Synopsis “Ninety-Three” reminds me of “Iliad” and “The Trial and Death of Socrates“. There’re memorable adventures and battles at sea, a ferocious siege that leads to a battle to the death, and finally, in the face of death, a contemplation of meaning, duty, freedom and destiny. Echoes of these contemplations are found in Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, especially the Epilogue. If you’ve read “Les Misérables”, you would notice the year 93 […]
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